Tuesday, October 29, 2013

For Halloween this year Peytyn and I are going to be mermaids! I had a few other ideas at first but after watching a few YouTube videos I changed my mind. Brittany and Chrisspy both did tutorials for mermaids and love them so much and inspired my makeup for Halloween. Here are the videos:

I didn't necessarily follow these videos when I was practicing my makeup .. it had been a week since I had watched them but I knew the general idea of what I wanted to do based off of what Brittany and Chrisspy did. I did one practice look and then a "real" look that I actually wore out. But for Halloween I plan on doing things differently again but want to share what I've done so far. It really won't change too much I just want to add more glitter/sequin/color detail around my face, neck and collar.

This is what happened when I first tried out my mermaid makeup:

For the first time practicing this I used different shades of green and blue to create a smokey eye and to contour. I have this random glitter (I literally have no clue where it came from) that I applied wherever I contoured. I applied it with eyelash adhesive and it wasn't that much fun getting off later but my eye makeup remover made it much easier. I would like to use the glitter again for Halloween but would like to make more of gradient so the transition looks smoother and not so harsh.

Now for when I did this a second time I didn't use any glitter at all. I wanted to concentrate more on contouring with the blue/green eye shadow. I used an E.L.F. palette the first time I practiced and it looked nice but the colors rubbed off easily and made it hard to add color around my face. The pictures below are what I for sure will do again for Thursday and I'll share what I used for each step.

I bronze up my face by adding Mac's Bronzing Powder to the hallow of my cheeks and around my hairline. Since I'm going in with colors to contour as well I just did enough bronzer to help add dimension.

I put a little bit of Mac's "Blush All Day" on my cheeks to add in a bit of color that was more natural.

I then start to contour more harshly with "Peace" by adding it along my hairline, the hallow of my cheeks, along my nose and under my chin. I first added some color then would blend it out and then add more to darker the color. I would add more color closer to my hairline and blend down and then on the lower part of my cheeks and blend that up.

This time for the makeup I did not use any glitter but just sequins in sporadic chunks on my face. Next time I would add more color contour and use some glitter and sequins. I liked how this turned out this time but feel like it could've been more complete.

For a hair accessory I made this beaded hair clip with a pendent on the bottom chain. Yeah..this picture sucks. I'll get better photos on Halloween and post them then.

For my costume I made little bra top with material left over from the items I made for my friend Courtney's wedding. It's a cream base fabric with matching lace to go over. I felt like this was pretty and could resemble scales almost. Again, I don't have the best photos of my outfit let's say it turned out pretty cool. I had different intentions of what to make but I like how it all turned out. My mom was so awesome and added sequins to the top part of my outfit and had the idea of adding the same strand of beads as my headpiece to shape my boobs. I also bought some starfish with the intention of putting them in my hair like Chrisspy did but instead I wanted it on my top to really pull the outfit together. I also made straps out of lace that can be worn a few different ways. The fabric can be gathered all at the top, fanned out or hang off the shoulder. My skirt is a green to blue ombre fabric and I wrapped it around and had it tie to the side.

Now here are some selfies and remember to check back after Halloween to see more photos of and some actual good ones.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Yeah buddy..two for two! Since I started slipping on doing blogposts I decided to have dedicated posts that I'll do at least weekly so that way I can stay consistent with all of this. I"ll still post my random posts sporadically but I feel like doing a weekly thing will help keep my random posts more frequent. So on Tuesdays expect something beauty related to check out. I even have a calendar planned out all the way until February..so this is gonna happen. Every other week will be some sort of makeup application post. I guess technically it's a tutorial but remember, I'm just an enthusiast. I do have an extended blogpost set for Thursday for more background on that and where I'm heading with it. And then every other week it will be makeup related but more broad and you'll see what I mean as time goes on.

So anyways today I'm talking about my night routine. This has changed over the years as I try different products and it may change as time goes on. I've been using a new skin care system lately and so far so good with it but I also want to try out a few other products from this company as well. But for now I'll share what I'm doing currently and I'll share what I would like to try.

On work nights the first thing I do to get ready for bed is take a shower. I'll shower in the mornings sporadically for work but I just really love going to bed all clean - it feels really refreshing. But for the weekends when I don't have to be up super early I prefer to start my day off with a shower.

After my shower I typically have raccoon eyes that are just gross so I take my Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover to remove any makeup I have left on. I love this makeup remover because it works super well and it doesn't irritate my eyes at all. If this is a night that I don't take a shower I prefer to use a makeup wipe (wipes are probably the best thing ever created). Out of the three different wipes I've tried so far I like Maybelline Clean Express Deep Cleansing Towelettes the most. These are large and WET. I couldn't stand how dry the Mac and Neutrogena wipes got. I would even store them upside down and that would help but the last few were like..not that wet. If a wipe feels dry I feel like it's not doing its job fully. Especially since I now know how amazing the Maybelline wipes are. Plus if you get home late and don't have enough energy to do your full night routine all you need to do is go brush your teeth and grab a wipe and as you walk to your bed and lay down clean away. Yes, I have done this before.

In the past for my cleanser I have used Proactiv which I liked and it did what I wanted to do but honestly it's a bit harsh on the skin. The beads in the cleanser made sense but were rough and after washing my face I felt dried out and a little raw. So now I'm using the TimeWise 3-In-1 Cleanser (normal/dry skin). I've tried this product out about four times in the past three years and have liked it each time - this also has the beads in it but it's so much more creamy. I've been using it consistently for a few weeks now and I do like how it keeps my skin feeling clean and I can tell the difference in using this product. One night I did use the TimeWise 3-In-1 Cleanser for oily/combination skin just for kicks - I can't give a full review on this since I don't have oily skin and I only used it once.

Following the cleanser I use my Night Solution and you can't forget to moisturize and for that I use the TimeWise Age-Fighting Moisturizer (dry/normal). I always thought it was weird in the past when I was using "age-fighting" products. Dude..I'm young! But why wait for a problem to exist and then correct it?

While I wait for my skin to dry from washing and as I let the Night Solution set I do a few things in between. The first thing I do after washing my face is apply my Artistry Essentials Replenishing Eye Creme. I got this eye creme a few months ago and I haven't used it consistently enough to know if it works or not. My bad. I have been better about including it into my routine and this is important to me because I have dark circles that I would prefer to not have to spend so much time covering up when I do my makeup. Once I get through this product I'll give a full review at that point.

After applying my Night Solution I go back to my eyes and apply my Lash & Brow Building Serum. I've had this product for a long time now but again, I haven't used it consistently enough to know if it works or not. When I was in high school I used RevitaLash which I loooooooved and I know it works based off my experience but it's pretty expensive. I have small, sparse and thin lashes, I know how to coat on the mascara but it's nice to have a good base to start with. So we'll see how this new one turns out and I'm hoping for the best since it's a much better price.

I'm interested in trying out the Botanical Effects Cleanser because I have a sample of the Botanical Effects Mask and was very happy with the result after once use. My skin isn't too bad when it comes to acne but I do have some problem areas. My cheeks get blemishes and I have blackheads on my chin under my lip. My chin isn't that noticeable but it's still gross and I was happy with how the mask cleared this up. It reminded me of the Proactiv I used to use but again not so harsh. I only use a face mask 1-2 times a week, not every night.

Now that my face is all clean and set my teeth need some attention. Flossing and brushing is a definite must. I have a DiamondClean sonic toothbrush. There is such a major difference between an electric toothbrush and a manual. You really don't know what clean is until you use an electric toothbrush. And to keep my teeth straight I have that good ole retainer. I had Invisalign for about five months last year and that helped me stick with my retainer this time around (yeah..I had braces before and didn't wear my retainer) because I was already used to wearing a retainer almost 24/7.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Before I get into this blogpost I just need to say I am a makeup enthusiast .. All my makeup knowledge is from watching YouTube videos for the past 3+ years and I've grown a good collection of makeup for the average girl. It's nothing too crazy, really but once you get to the point of having a few different foundations you wear depending on the look you want .. it's a collection. I have a few Mac foundations and a few MaryKay and I like each of them but again, I wear each one depending on how I'm doing the rest of my makeup.

Also .. these photos were taken with my phone so they're not as great as if I were to have a professional camera and although when I look at the photos today I'm pleased but I remember being disappointed when I initially took the photos - the makeup looked better in person. I do have another camera I could potentially try out next time. Plus I wish I went outside instead of just being next to a window. It would've been the perfect day/time to take photos outside.

Anyways here is a before and after of the makeup I did last weekend. I didn't have anywhere to go, in fact I was home all weekend with a sick baby but when she was taking a bath I thought it would be fun to experiment with my makeup - if it turned out totally awful at least I didn't have to redo my makeup before leaving the house. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, however I already know how to make it better for next time.

I really can't say I can think of a photo of myself posted anywhere without any makeup at all. So that's what I look like in case you were wondering. Ha. On a day to day basis I try to do my makeup not so cray cray and more with browns and tans for my eyeshadow. And even though my foundation might vary the bronzer/blush typically stays the same. I have a few different highlighters and concealers but mostly stick with what I'll share in this post.

I knew that I wanted to a smokey eye and this is a very similar look I did for Courtney's bachelorette party (I posted it on my Instagram back in September & that look was brighter on the inner corners and I used a teal blue as the transition). Below I'm going to list the products I used and how I created this look and at the end of the post will be close ups of my eyeballs.

I first filled in my eyebrows with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Go Brow Kit (in medium brown). I like this kit because it's simple and I really just started filling in my eyebrows this past year. Plus it's small and I wanted to try it out before committing to buying things for my eyebrows. I was never really a fan before of filling them in but if you're going to go all out on your makeup for a look like this, your eyebrows need to be done. Especially since mine are already so light. (With that said, the photos make it appear like I didn't touch them .. for photos I should fill them in darker to have a better balance but when I did it .. didn't look so great. Good thing I took enough photos before messing them up!)

I then primed my eyes with Urban Decay's Primer Potion sometimes I use my concealer for this step and it's *mostly* random what product I use for that. I did use my Mac Prolong Wear Concealer to carve out the bottom portion of my brow. I knew I wanted to put a very light color for my highlight so that's why I wanted to use my concealer, I feel like it shows lighter colors better.

My eyeshadows for this look came from Urban Decay's Deluxe Shadow Box (I see this at Nordstrom Rack all the time and it's a great price!!) and the first Naked Palette. Refer back to these photos to see the shadows I used.

Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Eye Makeup Steps:

Applied "Virgin" (Far left shadow from the Naked Palette) to my brow bone for my highlight.

Applied "Naked" (Third from left from the Naked Palette) with a big fluffy brush above my crease and slightly blended into my brow bone.

Applied "Ransom" (Top right corner of the Deluxe Shadow Box) with a fluffy brush into my crease.

Applied "Zero" (Center of Deluxe Shadow Box) with a flat shadow brush and packed that on all over my lid NOT going into my crease. Because of my eye shape, next time I would stop Zero sooner because when I blended it out into Ransom it was darker than I had intended.

Using a blending brush I blended Zero into Ransom and in my opinion, blending is the most important thing when doing any eye look.

I put Ransom on a small brush and blended that on my bottom lash line and then I put my Zero eyeshadow closer to my lash line and blended that all out.

I used my E.L.F. black liquid liner to line my top eyelid but I did not wing it out. I love the way that it looks winged out but..I feel like there are some YouTubers that I watch that do it every single time and .. no. Let's mix it up.

I applied a coat of mascara to my lashes and place my Ardell "Wispies" on top. I seriously love these lashes.

The last thing I did was add more Virgin to the inner corners of my eyes to help brighten them up.

This photo is with my eyes *mostly* completed (no false lashes yet). I also have my foundation on but nothing else. In my first step below I describe cleaning up the edges of my eyeshadow so take a look at my bottom eyeshadow and see how as it goes up and meets my eyeshadow on top, well, it's straight instead of "blown out". Hopefully this photo helps with my description below.

Face Makeup Steps:

I first used some makeup remover on a Q-Tip to remove any fall out from my eyeshadow and to create a solid line on the outer edges of my eyeshadow. Cora (from YouTube) gave a great tip in a video recently and that was to start the Q-Tip at the top and bring it down. It really makes a difference compared to going in the upward motion. I don't always make the edges of my eye shadow straight like this. Most of the time I leave it "blown out" depending on the look I'm going for.

Since I have such a dramatic, night eye look going on I typically prefer a matte foundation - I save the dewey look for my lighter eye looks or for during the day - I used my MaryKay TimeWise Matte-Wear Liquid Foundation. I blended that all over my face with a stippling brush.

I used my Mac Prolong Wear Concealer again for underneath my eyes and here's a tip that Christian (from the Bridgeport Mac store) told me about concealing my dark circles: only add concealer on the dark parts of what you're concealing, blend it and build as needed. I have a few dark lines that almost frame my bags so I spend some time on that when I really want to hide them.

I set my under eye make up with my Bare Minerals Veil. I mostly use this since I don't have anything else, it is shimmery but since most of my eyeshadows I own are I feel like it's okay .. haha. Jacklyn Hill (from YouTube) used Mac Pro's "Emphasize" and I really like that and would love to get myself one but with it being fall and winter now I would want something not to white. I do want to get something else to use for when I want a really matte look and not so glittery. I did initially buy this for a highlighter but I ended up using it this way. I also placed a little bit of this powder on my cupid's bow .. another tip I learned from Jacklyn.

I bronze up my face by adding Mac's Bronzing Powder to the hallow of my cheeks and around my hairline. I don't really "contour" my face but I do give it more dimension by adding the bronzer.

When it comes to blushes I normally use one blush for a few months and then switch it up. I bought Mac's "Blush All Day" back in September and I totally love it. I told Christian exactly what I was looking for in a new blush and he handed me this one and I seriously love it so much. All summer I've been using a bright pink so it's a nice change to still have pink cheeks but something better for fall. (In the past I've also used "Dame" and "Springsheen" from Mac as well.)

For my lips I used the Kardashian Nude Lip S"et "Au Naturel. And that is it. My look for staying at home all night long haha. Next time I do a look like this I want to use "Fishnet" (Top left corner from the Urban Decay Deluxe) and take it more easy on the Zero.

Again, here is the final look and then some close ups of the eyes. I was experimenting taking photos and yeah .. not super happy about how they turned out but..whatever.